نشریه علوم و فنون زنبور عسل ایران
پیاپی 16 (بهار و تابستان 1397)

Nosema disease is the most important adult bee disease but is mostly by beekeepers as there are no
characteristic obvious symptoms. Hence, Nosema disease is also referred to as "the silent killer". The aim of
the present study was to determine the molecular identification of Nosema spices in Kurdistan province of
Iran. 100 samples were collected from apiaries (870 hives) of Kurdistan. Samples were examined by a light
microscope and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. The light microscope was used for determination of
the presence of Nosema spores in all of the collected samples. PCR assay based on 16S ribosomal RNA has
been used to differentiate between Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae. Only Nosema ceranae was found in
all samples, indicating that this species present in Kurdistan

Api-Tourism is a type of tourism that has its origin in the culture and traditions of rural communities and can be considered as one of the most stable methods of tourism development .This type of tourism concerns apiary or bee-keeping as a traditional vocation and bee products and their environmental, medicinal and nutritional aspects. Apiary tourism includes visiting apiary sites, bee museums and bee keepers open space activities. Thus the tourists can have the opportunity to watch the beekeeping related works, get familiar with the process of honey production and wonderful colonial life of bees as well as the environmental solidarity of humans and bees. This essay seeks to assay the economic and vocational aspects of apiary tourism and is based on the field observations and librarial studies. The findings of this study can serve as a blueprint to develop the apiary tourism in all bee keeping farms throughout the country and is a new project in its kind .ever undertaken in national scale.

Propolis (also called bee glue) is a resinous substance derived from bees. It has long been used in medicine
for its beneficial properties, including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic and local anaesthetic
effects. In dentistry, propolis has been used for the prevention of dental caries and periodontal diseases, as an
interim transport medium for avulsed teeth, and in endodontics, orthodontics and periodontics. The role of
propolis is discussed in various branches of dentistry, including: preventive dentistry, dental traumatology,
endodontics, periodontology, orthodontics and oral oncology. Although most research published in the dental
literature on propolis is based on in-vitro studies or animal studies, extrapolating the results of these present
studies to clinical practice may be too early as these results may not be necessarily replicated in human trials.
In future, propolis may find a definitive role in one or more applications in dentistry; however, clinical trials
are necessary to isolate the individual components responsible for its beneficial effects and to study them

Honey is a natural sweet substance that the bee collects, treats it from the floral nectar and stores it
in honeycombs. Honey harvest season, climatic conditions, source of nectar and its processing have an
important influence on the quality, composition and biochemical characteristics of honey. The purpose of
this research is to determine the effect of honey harvest season on the physico-chemical, antioxidant and
microbial properties of natural honey. Therefore honey samples were collected from three cities Kashmar,
Shirvan and Neishabor in Khorasan province in two different seasons, spring and autumn. The samples of
the honey were pure and were made from natural flowers in the region. The results showed that spring honey
samples with a moisture content (16.6%) and brix (81.36%) had the highest and lowest moisture content and
brix degree respectively and the autumn honey samples had moisture content (15.08%) and brix (83.33%).
Also, spring honey with a color intensity of 0.005%, had a brighter color than the autumn samples. Also,
spring honey had more phenolic compounds (0.067 mg/kg honey) and higher antioxidant and antibacterial
properties (respectively 61.1856, 100%) than the fall samples with phenolic compounds (0.033 mg/kg
honey) and antioxidant and antibacterial properties (respectively 35.5332 and 44.44%). All honey samples
did not contain sulfite reducing bacteria that indicated correct hygienic management in honey processing and
showed good microbial quality of honey samples

The gut microbiota can have profound effects on hosts, but the study of these relationships in humans is
challenging. The specialized gut microbial community of honey bees is similar to the mammalian microbiota,
as both are mostly composed of host-adapted, facultatively anaerobic and microaerophilic bacteria. However,
the microbial community of the bee gut is far simpler than the mammalian microbiota, being dominated by
only nine bacterial species clusters that are specific to bees and that are transmitted through social interactions
between individuals. Recent developments, which include the discovery of extensive strain-level variation,
evidence of protective and nutritional functions, and reports of eco-physiological or disease-associated
perturbations to the microbial community, have drawn attention to the role of the microbiota in bee health
and its potential as a model for studying the ecology and evolution of gut symbionts

The dust storm hurricanes due to its fine grain size, have traveled a long way and affected widespread
areas, where 14 of Iran's provinces affected by the dust storm that coming from the neighboring countries.
In the recent years, the occurrence of dust storm had been increased in the Iran, special in the southern and
western parts. This increase trend resulted in negative effects i.e. on the bee keeping and honey production.
Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of dust storm on decrease of honey production. The
precipitation data and honey production were provided form related organization. In order to data analysis,
the SPSS software was employed. The One-Sample-T test was used regarding to investigate the effects
of dust storm on decrease of honey production. Given that the potential honey production is 11.5 kg in
Iran, we conclude that dust storm occurrence had significant (P-value < 0.05) negative effects on the honey
production resulted in decrease its production. In order to the impacts of dust storm hurricanes on the average
honey production in hives, the regression analysis was used. The results showed that occurrence of the dust
storm and drought had significant (P-value < 0.05) negative effects on the average honey production in hives.
Our results revealed that 65 % of decrease in honey production is due to occurrence of the dust storm and
drought, in Andimeshk Province